Ruja Ignatova disappeared seven years in the past after U.S. authorities issued a warrant for her arrest. The self-proclaimed “Crypto Queen” orchestrated OneCoin’s Ponzi scheme, taking $4.5 billion from traders.
Now, a BBC investigation suspects {that a} lacking cryptocurrency scammer might have been murdered by a Bulgarian drug lord years in the past.
Crypto Queen Lacking for Seven Years
In 2014, Bulgarian “entrepreneur” Ruja Ignatova based the encryption rip-off firm OneCoin. The corporate calls itself the “Bitcoin Killer” for its cryptocurrency and blockchain mannequin. Nonetheless, OneCoin was nothing greater than a conventional Ponzi scheme that stole $4.5 billion from traders world wide.
After the trade collapsed in 2017, authorities continued to research the fraudulent trade and introduced expenses in opposition to prime executives, together with Ignatova. In October of the identical yr, U.S. authorities issued an arrest warrant for the self-proclaimed “Queen of Cryptocurrency,” however she disappeared to evade the regulation.
Ignatova is believed to have been in hiding since her disappearance, particularly after being named the one girl on the FBI’s Ten Most Needed record. Nonetheless, a current BBC report revealed some disturbing details about the whereabouts of the Bulgarian criminals.
Amanatidis' Interpol Pink Discover. Supply: BBC
In keeping with a BBC investigation, Ignatova is suspected by many to have been killed by his bodyguard, Bulgarian drug lord Kristoforos Nikos Amanatidis. The crypto queen’s safety chief is claimed to be a serious organized crime determine in her house nation.
Amanatidis, also called Taki, was “an important, if not essentially the most prolific, drug trafficker that Bulgaria has ever seen”. A US authorities lawyer instructed the BBC that resulting from Taki’s relationship with Ignatova, he seems to have shut ties to OneCoin and was concerned within the cryptocurrency scammer’s disappearance.
What’s the relationship between Bulgarian Elf and Ignatova?
Experiences say the drug lord is believed to be somebody like Bulgarian El Chapo or Pablo Escobar, chargeable for armed robberies, drug smuggling and murders. Former Bulgarian Deputy Minister Ivan Khristanov believes that Taki is the one one that can help Ignatova in committing crimes and defend her from authorized sanctions. Khristanov, who investigated drug lords, mentioned:
Taki is a ghost. You’ll by no means meet him. You’ve got solely heard of him. He’s speaking to you thru different individuals. For those who do not pay attention, you’ll disappear from the face of the earth.
The connections between Taki and the crypto queen are rising. The drug lord is believed to stay in Dubai, the place Ignatova owns a luxurious penthouse. Her checking account obtained thousands and thousands of {dollars} from a Ponzi scheme. Moreover, cryptocurrency criminals paid Taki 100,000 euros per 30 days to guard her.
As well as, the 2 Bulgarian criminals had been a part of a fancy deal to promote a part of the nation’s Black Beach. The paperwork seem to hyperlink considered one of Ignatova’s firms to Taki’s spouse.
Hiding or useless, the place is Ruja Ignatova?
Some sources consider that Ignatova might have been murdered by her protectors. In 2022, Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov led an investigation by native information outlet Chicken that gathered various suspects concerned in Ignatova’s case.
Stoyanov and Byrd’s workforce reportedly obtained a police report through which a police informant detailed a dialog he overheard. Through the dialog, Taki’s brother-in-law admitted that Ignatova was murdered on the order of a drug lord in late 2018.
Her physique was allegedly dismembered and thrown overboard from a yacht. Stoyanov mentioned this situation was “very, very possible” as a result of a number of of Taki’s prison associates believed the speculation was appropriate.
Colleagues reasoned that the needed Ms. Ignatova turned a legal responsibility for Taki, who needed to remove his connection to the OneCoin fraud.
As well as, journalists claimed that since her disappearance, Taki’s associates started utilizing a number of of Ignatova’s properties in Bulgaria.
Finally, there was not sufficient proof to prosecute the drug lord and no physique proved homicide, so regardless of rumors, the Crypto Queen’s whereabouts stay a thriller.
Whole crypto market capitalization is at $2.48 trillion within the biweekly chart. Supply: TOTAL on TradingView
Featured picture from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
